Category: Writing

Select the correct answer. Why does Walt Whitman use the word singing in the title “I Hear America Singing”?
a. to illustrate a misguided and simple interpretation of American society
b. to reflect a hopeful, cohesive view of American society
c. to highlight the importance of labor rights for workers in America
d. to show that having a positive outlook in life is essential to succeed
Select the correct answer. Which of the following is a prominent theme in romanticism?
a. an appreciation for science
b. a respect for civilized society
c. the individual against society
d. the surroundings of an individual
Select the correct answer. What is the author’s tone in this line from William Dean Howells’s “Editha”? Then Editha’s father said in his public-will-now-address-a-few remarks tone, “My name is Balcom, ma’am; Junius Balcom, of Balcom’s Works, New York. . . .”
a. Angry
b. Solemn
c. Sarcastic
d. Moralistic

In the poem “A Letter to My Mom That She Will Never Read” by Ocean Vuong. What does the deer and monarch butterflies symbolize?
2nd question: Why do Ocean and his mother dress up to go to the mall. And what does this say about Ocean’s mother’s character?
3rd question: Why does Ocean’s mother ask him if she looks “like a real American?”
4th question: out of the Blue Moon why does Ocean’s mother tell him that she isn’t “a monster” but “a mother”.

in huckleberry fin by mark twain (chapter 19)
As the chapter opens, How does Twain make a sense of peaceful solitude?
What inferences can you draw about Huck’s motivation to assist the two men (later known as the king and the duke) who are being chased? According to the men, why are they being chased?
Huck and Jim have been extremely vigilant about concealing Jim from other people. What inferences can you draw about why Huck is not concerned about bringing the two men into contact with Jim?
What methods of indirect characterization does Twain initially use to reveal the personalities of the two men?

I-Robot by Isaac Asimov Chapter 5- Liar 1. How was Herbie? 2. Why did Herbie like reading the romance novels? 3. How did the 3 laws affect Herbie’s behavior? 4. Describe the downfall of Herbie, what was his dilemma? Chapter 6- Little Lost Robot 1. Who was Nestor 10? 2. How and why did Nestor 10 get “lost”? 3. What was so special about the 12 NS-2’s on the asteroid (including Nestor 10)? 4. Why was the first law “modified” and how? 5. How was Nestor 10 found? 6. What was Nestor 10’s reaction when he was discovered? Chapter 7- Escape 1. Who is The Brain? 2. What happened to Mike Donovan and Greg Powell? 3. How was the first law overcome/broken? Chapter 8- Evidence 1. Who is Stephen Byerley? 2. Why is Dr. Calvin, Dr. Lanning, and Francis Quinn so interested in him? 3. What implications could this mean for humans? Chapter 9- The Evitable Conflict 1. What was the evitable conflict? 2. Why was it “evitable”?

Select the correct answer from each drop down menu. Based on the context, choose the word that best completes each sentence.
While the majority of the class accepted the answer, the student argued for a different viewpoint.
Orlando cleaned the house, throwing things in closets and under beds just to finish the job faster.
The
v
of their new kitchen was bright and cheery to match the look and feel of the rest of the house.
A. Isaiah loved the meal so much that his plate was nearly
when he finished.
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from
Five Weeks in a Balloon
by Jules Verne
published by George Rutledge and Sons, 1876
1        Dr. Ferguson had a friend – not another self, indeed, an alter ego, for friendship could not exist between two beings exactly alike.
2        But, if they possessed different qualities, aptitudes, and temperaments, Richard Kennedy and Samuel Ferguson lived with one and the same heart, and that gave them no great trouble. In fact, quite the reverse….
3        The acquaintanceship of these two friends had been formed in India, when they belonged to the same regiment. While Richard would be out in pursuit of the tiger and the elephant, Samuel would be in search of plants and insects. Each could call himself expert in his own province, and more than one rare botanical1 specimen, that to science was as great a victory won as the conquest of a pair of ivory tusks, became the doctor’s booty.
4        Since their return to England they had been frequently separated by the doctor’s distance expeditions; but, on his return, the latter never failed to go, not to ASK for hospitality, but to bestow some weeks of his presence at the home of his crony Richard.
5        The Scot talked of the past; the doctor busily prepared for the future. The one looked back, the other forward. Hence, a restless spirit personified in Ferguson; perfect calmness typified in Kennedy – such was the contrast.
6        After his journey to the Thibet, the doctor had remained nearly two years without hinting at new explorations; and Richard, supposing that his friend’s instinct for travel and thirst for adventure had at length died out, was perfect enchanted. They would have ended badly, some day or other, he thought to himself; no matter what experience one has with men, one does not travel always with impunity2 among cannibals and wild beasts. So, Kennedy besought the doctor to tie up his bark for life, having done enough for science, and too much for the gratitude of men.
7        The doctor contented himself with making no reply to this. He remained absorbed in his own reflections, giving himself up to secret calculations, passing his nights among heaps of figures, and making experiments with the strangest-looking machinery, inexplicable to everybody but himself. It could readily be guessed, though, that some great thought was fermenting3 in his brain.
8        “What can he have been planning?” wondered Kennedy, when, in the month of January, his friend quitted him to return to London.
9        He found out one morning when he looked into the Daily Telegraph.
10       “Merciful Heaven!” he exclaimed, “the lunatic! the madman! Cross Africa in a balloon! Nothing that was wanted to cap the climax! That’s what he’s been bothering his wits about these two years past!”
11       …On that very evening, Kennedy, half alarmed, and half exasperated, took the train for London, where he arrived next morning.
12       Three-quarters of an hour later a cab deposited him at the door of the doctor’s modest dwelling, in Soho Square, Greek Street. Forthwith he bounded up the steps and announced his arrival with five good, hearty, sounding raps at the door.
13       Ferguson opened, in person.
14       “Richard! You here?” he exclaimed, but with no great expression of surprise, after all.
15       “Richard himself!” was the response. . . .
16       “And what have you come to town for?”
17       “To prevent the greatest piece of folly that ever was conceived.”
18       “Folly!” said the doctor.
19       “Is what this paper says, the truth?” rejoined Kennedy, holding out the copy of the Daily Telegraph mentioned above.
20       “Ah! That’s what you mean, is it? These newspapers are great tattlers! But, sit down, my dear Richard.”
21       “No, I won’t sit down! – Then, you really intend to attempt this journey?”
22       “Most certainly! All my preparations are getting along finely, and I – ”
23       “Where are your traps? Let me have a chance at them! I’ll make them fly! I’ll put your preparations in fine order?” And so saying, the gallant Scot gave way to a genuine explosion of wrath.
24       “Come, be calm, my dear Richard!” resumed the doctor. “You’re angry at me because I did not acquaint you with my new project!”
25       “He calls this his new project!”
26       “I have been very busy,” the doctor went on, without heeding the interruption; “I have had so much to look after! But rest assured that I should not have started without writing to you.”
27       “Oh, indeed! I’m highly honored.”
28       “Because it is my intention to take you with me.”
29       Upon this, the Scotchman gave a leap that a wild goat would not have been ashamed of among his native crags.
30       “Ah! Really, then, you want them to send us both to Bedlam!”
31       “I have counted positively upon you, my dear Richard, and I have picked you out from all the rest.”
32       Kennedy stood speechless with amazement. …
33       But he made up his mind to oppose his friend’s departure by all means in his power, and so pretended to give in, at the same time keeping on the watch. As for the doctor, he went on diligently with his preparations.
1        Read this sentence from paragraph 6.
So, Kennedy besought the doctor to tie up his bark for life, having done enough for science, and too much for the gratitude of men.
A “bark” is a small boat or sailing ship. What does the author most likely mean by “to tie up his bark for life?
A        to put an end to his explorations
B        to stop traveling by boat
C        to stop his experiments on transportation
D        to attach his boat more securely to the dock
2        Read the dialogue in paragraphs 21 through 27 of the excerpt. What does the dialogue reveal about Richard Kennedy?
A        He is hurt because the doctor didn’t tell him about the plans.
B        He is outraged because he considers the trip to be dangerous.
C        He is impatient to get started on the journey.
D        He is pleased that he will be included on the trip.
3        Richard Kennedy is shocked when he reads the newspaper article about Samuel Ferguson’s plan. Which sentence from the story best supports this assertion?
A        “While Richard would be out in pursuit of the tiger and the elephant, Samuel would be in search of plants and insects.”
B        “The Scot had talked of the past; the doctor busily prepared for the future.”
C        “The doctor had remained nearly two years without hinting at new explorations….”
D        “In the month of January, his friend quitted him to return to London.”
4        What theme is revealed through the descriptions and interactions of Richard Kennedy and Samuel Ferguson?
A        True friends are willing to forgive past mistakes.
B        The best friendships are formed through difficult circumstances.
C        Friendship is more important than success.
D        Friends support each other even when they disagree.
5        The ancient Greek poem
The Odyssey
tells of the journey Odysseus makes to return to his home after the Trojan War and the many obstacles he faces and strange worlds he encounters. Based on the excerpt, how is the universal theme of the journey different in
Five Weeks in a Balloon?
A        The main character must make the journey alone without help from others.
B        The main character chooses to leave home and seek out adventure.
C        The main character does not have a home that he can return to.
D        The main character’s journey will take him to a familiar and popular place.
6        Which of the following is the best summary of the excerpt?
A        Richard Kennedy and Samuel Ferguson have long been friends. Kennedy thinks his friend has finally given up his life of adventure, but then he is shocked to discover that his friend plans to cross Africa in a balloon. Kennedy confronts Ferguson, who reveals his plan to take Kennedy along on the journey.
B        Richard Kennedy and Samuel Ferguson meet in India when both are serving in the same military regiment. While Kennedy is a great hunter, Ferguson is a scientist who takes pleasure in his study of plants. Ferguson uses his scientific knowledge to do experiments and plan a trip across Africa in a balloon.
C        Richard Kennedy and Samuel Ferguson have different qualities and personalities, but they are great friends nonetheless. While Kennedy talks of the past, Ferguson is restless and always looking to the future. Their friendship is tested when Kennedy learns that Ferguson has secretly been planning a trip across African by balloon.
D        When Richard Kennedy reads in the newspaper that his old friend Samuel Ferguson plans to cross African in a balloon, he is shocked. Exasperated, Kennedy rushes to London to discuss the situation with Ferguson. Ferguson assures Kennedy that he was going to tell him of the plan, and Kennedy’s mind is put at ease.

Figurative Language
“The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury
Directions: complete the chart by filling in all of the empty boxes.
Quote from Text
Figurative Language
Meaning/Significance
To enter out into that silence that was the city at eight o’clock of a misty evening in
November, to put your feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams and make your way, hands in pockets, through the silences, that was what Mr. Leonard Mead most dearly loved to do.
irony
… he would stride off, sending patterns of frosty air before him like the smoke of a cigar.
It’s so cold outside that he can see his own breath, similar to smoke from a cigar.
And on his way he would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows.
metaphor
The neighborhood was like a graveyard with the people “entombed” inside watching their flickering light televisions like zombies.
Sudden gray phantoms seemed to manifest upon inner room walls where a curtain was still undrawn against the night, or there were whisperings and murmurs where a window in a tomblike building was still open.
imagery
There was a good crystal frost in the air; it cut the nose and made the lungs blaze like a Christmas tree inside; you could feel the cold light going on and off, all the branches filled with invisible snow.
He listened to the faint push of his soft shoes through autumn leaves with satisfaction, and whistled a cold quiet whistle between his teeth, occasionally picking up a leaf as he passed, examining its skeletal pattern in the infrequent lamplights as he went on, smelling its rusty smell.
You can hear the sound of Mead’s shoes shuffling through the leaves and the sound of him whistling. He picks up a leaf and smells it. This passage appeals to many senses to show Mead is one with nature and it help readers feel like they are outside on a chilly November night.
The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in mid-country.
He stumbled over a particularly uneven section of sidewalk. The cement was vanishing under flowers and grass.
imagery
During the day it was a thunderous surge of cars, the gas stations open, a great insect rustling and a ceaseless jockeying for position as the scarab beetles.
The cars are scurrying through life like beetles. People are rushing here and there not absorbing the life around them.
He stood entranced, not unlike a night moth, stunned by the illumination, and then drawn toward it.
“Your name?” Said the police car in a metallic whisper.
personification
The light held him fixed like a museum specimen.
He put his hand to the door and peered into the back seat, which was a little cell, a little black jail with bars. It smelled of riveted steel. It smelled of harsh antiseptic; it smelled too clean and hard and metallic. There was nothing soft there.
The car feels sterile and uncomfortable. It is a mini-prison. You can smell steel and antiseptic. The car represents the coldness of humanity and reinforces the the theme of dehumanization in the story.
They passed one house on one street a moment later, one house in an entire city of houses that were dark, but this one particular house had all of its electric lights brightly lit, every window a loud yellow illumination, square and warm in the cool darkness.
symbolism
The car moved down the empty river-bed streets and off away, leaving the empty streets with the empty side-walks, and no sound and no motion all the rest of the chill November night.
repetition